Video display monitors, such as those for displaying computer or television signals, are increasingly becoming relied upon to display a variety of content from a multitude of applications. For example, a computer display may simultaneously display multiple items such as, for example, a message manager, an Internet web browser, a television signal, a calendar, etc. When an application for a new item is started, the item appears on the display at a seemingly random location and is sized to a seemingly random size. The user often has no control over the placement and sizing of an item unless the user manually adjusts the parameters relating to the location and sizing of the item after the application displaying the item has been invoked. As more items are displayed on the display, the manual task of locating and sizing items becomes tedious and may have to be repeated upon each invocation of an application.